With a little over half of the registered voters going to the polls Saturday, Oct. 14, or voting early, Winn Parish voters sent sheriff Cranford Jordan and challenger Josh McAllister into a runoff in the Nov. 18 general election, while returning assessor Lawrence Desadier to four more years after a challenge from Chet Atkins.
McAllister, with 36%, outpolled incumbent Jordan’s 35% by 42 votes, 1,640 to 1,598. A strong third place finish was mounted by Dylan Womack who garnered 1,352 votes for 29% of the 4,590 total turnout. More votes were cast in the sheriff’s race than any other single race.
For the assessor’s post, Desadier received 2,480 votes for 56% while Atkins received 1,958 for 44% of the 4,438 votes cast
The four police jury districts where elections were held also saw voter turnout better than 50%. District 3 will see a runoff between Kevin Pharr who had 41% of the vote with 278 and Darrell Franks who had 40% with 269. Running third was Bryan Price with 19% and 129 votes. Turnout was 57%.
District 4 saw challenger Stanley Garrett outdistance incumbent Tammy Griffin by a 61% to 39% margin. The vote was 482 to 311. Voter interest at 60% was the highest on Saturday’s ballot. District 5 winner was Kyle Potts with 74% on 517 votes. James Jones had 26% with 177 votes. Voter turnout was 56%. District 6 incumbent Author Robinson won re-election with 60% on 388 votes. Challenger Larry Glenn gathered 40% with 260 votes. Turnout was 55%.
In statewide races, Winn gave Jeff Landry 66% for governor and he won his bid outright in a field of 15. Winn supported Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser 64% as he also won outright. Winn supported Mike Francis with 27% for secretary of state. He ran a close third with 18%. Winn supported Liz Murrill with 42% for attorney general. She polled 45% statewide and will run against Lindsey Cheek in November.
Winn supported John Fleming with 61% in his bid for treasurer. He got 44% statewide and will run against Dustin Granger in November. Winn supported Stacey Melerine with 47% for BESE board District 4. She also received 47% in the district and faces a runoff with Paige Hoffpauir. In Senate District 31, voters in western Winn were evenly split between Mike McConathy and Alan Seabraugh, with Seabraugh getting 8 votes more locally. He also won the election with 54% of the votes.
